


Hallowed be thy Name

by StormLeviosa



Series: Batman Bingo 2020 fics [5]
Category: Batman - All Media Types
Genre: Batfamily (DCU), Bruce Wayne is a Good Parent, Character Study, Damian Wayne is Robin, Damian just really loves his dad ok?, Father's Day, Father-Son Relationship, Gen, Good Parent Talia al Ghul, Short One Shot
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-06-22
Updated: 2020-06-22
Packaged: 2021-03-04 05:28:11
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 823
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/24858385
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/StormLeviosa/pseuds/StormLeviosa
Summary: Damian never called him ‘dad’. He was above such colloquialisms, too refined, too educated to use anything but the most respectful terms. And so he called him ‘father’.A little (belated) piece for father's day.
Relationships: Bruce Wayne & Damian Wayne
Series: Batman Bingo 2020 fics [5]
Series URL: https://archiveofourown.org/series/1625461
Comments: 11
Kudos: 145





	Hallowed be thy Name

**Author's Note:**

> I forgot that a) yesterday was father's day and b) that one of my bingo squares is "dad". I could not miss that opportunity.   
> This literally took me an hour and a half and I haven't edited it so if there are mistakes, I'm sorry.

Damian never called him ‘dad’. He was above such colloquialisms, too refined, too educated to use anything but the most respectful terms. And so he called him ‘father’. Sometimes, when his mind was racing in circles and he missed something that Gotham couldn’t give, he thought maybe he could use 'baba' or 'pedr'. Arabic and Farsi were always warmer on his tongue than English. But they were the languages of his old home; they belonged to another time, another family. They belonged to cold desert nights, curled into his mother’s side while she named the stars and told their stories. They were his mother-tongues and so they belonged to her, left behind a world away with people who were no longer his. His mother had Arabic and Farsi. His father had English and French and Spanish and Mandarin and Russian and every other language that he would ever need for the mission.

He called him ‘father’ and he called him ‘Batman’ and they were just words, not even names, but they felt wrong sometimes. Heavy. Lacking. His father was larger than life, larger than the titles that contained him, larger than the reputation that his mother had taught him and Damian loved him. Damian loved him more than he thought he had ever loved another person (except his mother, who held him close and sung him soft and ancient lullabies and gave him cooling salves for his bruises, kissing each one feather-light). Damian loved him so he honoured him, respected him. He called him ‘father’.

Grayson called him ‘dad’, called him ‘B’, and Damian allowed it because of all of them Grayson was the next highest in his esteem. Grayson was the first, the best, the oldest. Grayson respected his father in other ways. When father was gone, Grayson stood up and took his place. He wasn’t father. No one would ever be father. But he was Batman, for a while, and Damian allowed it even though it was his birthright because Grayson was talented and strong and true and Damian could learn from him things that no one in the League could ever teach him. Grayson was not father, but he was a brother, perhaps. Damian could respect him enough that calling his 'Batman' did not leave his mouth tasting of ash and blood and destruction.

He did not trust Drake. He did not like him, did not like his methods or his attitude or his sly intelligence. He especially did not like that he called father ‘dad’, called him ‘Bruce, called him ‘boss-man’. It was disrespectful. And then Drake took his company, dared to suggest that Damian did not deserve Robin, that he - Drake - was the better fighter. Damian could not let it stand. He fought for his honour, for his father’s, for their symbol’s. But Drake thwarted him. Drake wiggled out of his traps and foiled his plans and kept. On. Going. He was...tenacious, Damian could admit, clever even. Drake got a reprieve for finding his father when no one else could, but one wrong move and Damian would strike. He would not allow father to be disrespected by someone who was not true family, was not worthy of the mantle he had stolen.

Todd was contentious, was wild, was belligerent and downright rude. When he called him ‘dad’, it was with derision and hatred, a mocking lash of his tongue. ‘Dad’, to Todd, meant ‘failure’ and ‘disappointment’ and ‘cruelty’. ‘Dad’ was love that ended with death. Damian could understand his pain, could understand the coursing rage that blinded him. But it did not stop his hackles from rising, like when Titus growled at spiders, when Todd let his personal grievances outweigh respect for his father. He could not beat Todd in single combat, just like he could not beat Drake or Grayson, but he would try anyway. Fighting and losing was more honourable than turning away; Damian’s mother had taught him that. 

When Grayson or Drake or Todd called him ‘dad’, Damian faltered. He called him 'father' out of respect, out of love, called him 'Batman' to protect them, to honour the legacy left behind him. But he wondered, when the others were comfortable and soft enough to call him ‘dad’, if perhaps his was the greater disrespect. Should he slip to their level? Should he call him 'dad' too? He felt the word in his throat, swirled it in his mouth, and grimaced with distaste. It felt too casual, somehow, for a man of such high standing. He could not do it. ‘Dad’ fitted the others, the men who had spent time as his friends and partners and companions as well as - and he was reluctant to admit it - sons, but for him it would not do. He would call him 'father', he would call him 'Batman', and in the dead of night when his mind was quiet, a small voice would whisper legends of his baba.

**Author's Note:**

> Unironically, the bit that took the longest was finding a Latin alphabet translation of Farsi. If it's wrong, let me know because I do not trust the website I used at all. 
> 
> Anyway, hope everyone has a good day!


End file.
